Holy Week: Publicans and Harlots

Two of the most hated and disrespected people in the Roman-occupied Jewish society were publicans (tax collectors) and sex workers. 

Tax collectors were viewed as operatives for Jewish oppression, taking and enriching themselves on the money they collected for Rome. It was considered beneath a Jewish man to act against his own community by serving Rome in such a function, the worst thing a Jewish man could be. Harlots, the textual description for female sex workers, were similarly at the bottom of the social hierarchy of women at the time. They were guilty of offenses that could get them ostracized (Lev. 19:29, Deut. 23:17-18), if not stoned to death (Lev. 20:10) under the Law of Moses. 

I make no apology for the patriarchal disparity that is readily apparent here. The worst thing a Jewish man could be was not someone who engaged the services of sex workers. It was someone who took Jewish money on behalf of an occupying government. And there were no explicitly written instructions for stoning tax collectors to death under the Law of Moses.

 

The Woman Taken in Adultery, Rembrandt

Make no mistake, the entire Latter-day Saint scriptural canon maintains these deeply prejudiced and offensive treatments of women. Sex work, whether literal or figuratively intended by scriptural authors of the Standard Works, becomes a symbol for moral failure, disloyalty, and societal decay. "Whores" and "harlots" aren't just sex workers: they are anyone who displeases God in a variety of ways.

There is only one exception, which appears in the readings for Holy Week, in which Jesus Christ upsets the social order where publicans and "harlots" are at the bottom rung of society. Consider the parable from Matthew 21:28-31:

28 But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.

29 He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.

30 And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.

31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

In the cosmology of Jesus Christ, publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before priests, scribes, the wealthy, the elite, and so many others who estimate themselves to be of great worth in society. The reasoning for this is simple: it is a greater sin to have promised God to serve him and to fail than to refuse to serve, then to go and do genuine goodness and kindness anyway.

Those who live without pretense, who never claimed to represent God in their actions but still attempt to do as much good as they can, do less harm than those who represent God poorly. It is better not to represent God at all than to represent him poorly.

Jesus Christ was there to do the will of his Father. Delivering this particular message was part of that will. It's one thing to worship a God who believes in this kind of justice and mercy. It's another to watch it happen before you as publicans and harlots are honored above you. To see yourself unseated from places of honor and respect to which you aspire? Because someone you despise has taken your place?With the divine sanction of God? That's something many in our society are not prepared to experience, even though we have it in writing that it's exactly what will happen.

If you tell a Latter-day Saint, one who meets all of the many demands of our religion, that a sex worker is more worthy to enter the temple than they are, many of them would take great exception to that. But Jesus didn't intend to let anyone who finds themselves superior to anyone to remain comfortable in that position. There will be a great reckoning in which all who esteem themselves highly will be made low, and those who esteem themselves lowly will take their places.

Easter celebrates the dismantling of worldly hierarchies, the alleged superiority we feel we've earned over others. As Jesus taught "the last shall be first, and the first last." (Matt 20:16) It's such a pretty thought until you realize exactly what it means. And if seeing a publican, a sex worker, or any other person getting into heaven causes you anything but joy, it means you have issues to work through. It's a You Problem that Jesus has said he will treat as a You Problem.